A task force in charge of Aroostook County’s opioid settlement money wants local organizations to apply for funding to help people adversely affected by the drugs.
Aroostook is slated to receive $2.69 million in settlement funds spread over the next 16 years. The funds are part of national litigation related to the excessive harm caused by the distribution of highly addictive prescription pain pills over a decade. Earlier this year, the county government created a 9-member task force to determine how to distribute that money.
In Maine, 39 counties, cities and towns are expected to share $66 million in opioid settlement funds, part of more than $50 billion expected to be distributed nationally. Though funds are intended to help with opioid treatment and recovery programs, an investigation by The Maine Monitor this year found that most communities were spending their funds on law enforcement, raising concerns among advocates.
Aroostook officials said that they intend their grant program to fund organizations helping victims of the epidemic.
More than 26.6 million prescription pain pills were supplied to people in Aroostook from 2006 to 2014, according to data analyzed in the Washington Post. As a result, the region has dealt with a significant number of opioid-related overdoses, many of which have claimed the lives of residents.
There have been 362 nonfatal and 28 fatal overdoses in Aroostook so far in 2024, compared with 485 nonfatal and 69 fatal in 2023, according to state data compiled in August. Statewide, there have been 5,621 nonfatal and 341 fatal overdoses this year, compared with 9,274 nonfatal and 606 in all of 2023.
Local advocates and volunteers have spearheaded many programs to help people combat addiction and get into recovery. These include three recovery centers, two recovery houses and creative ways to distribute naloxone, an overdose reversal drug, such as in vending machines and via cabinets located at area businesses. The region also has two treatment centers – a methadone clinic and an 18-bed residential treatment facility – both in Presque Isle.
The County’s vast geographic area means that not everyone can access those services and some might not even be aware they exist. A grant program could be the first step in solving those issues, said County Administrator Ryan Pelletier.
“We want to bolster the work that local organizations are already doing and help them reach far more people,” Pelletier said. “We have people in recovery spread out all over The County, but transportation, among other things, is a barrier. They might not all be aware of what’s out there.”
Aroostook has received $744,345 of its allotted settlement and Pelletier is proposing to use $300,000 for the first round of a grant program aimed at local organizations focusing on one of four categories: treatment, recovery, harm reduction and prevention.
Each category will have a limit of $75,000 taken from the $300,000, but the task force could move more funding to other categories depending on how many applications each receives, Pelletier said.
“We would want the funds to go where the most need is,” Pelletier said.
County Commissioners will vote on whether to approve the task force’s suggested letter of intent and application forms during their next meeting Wednesday, Nov. 20, at the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office in Houlton. That meeting will begin at 1 p.m. and also include a Zoom option for attendees who cannot travel to Houlton.
If commissioners approve, organizations can access the letter of intent form on the county’s website, asking them to declare their intent to apply and briefly describe what they would use the funds for. Letters of intent would be due Dec. 16 and full applications Jan. 15, 2025. Commissioners would likely vote on the task force’s recommended projects for funding in mid February.
The grant program would be similar to one that the county created with American Rescue Plan Act funds. Through that program, county officials distributed $6.5 million to municipalities and nonprofits for infrastructure, broadband, public health and clean water projects.
Pelletier said that he encourages anyone within the recovery community to attend future commissioner and opioid task force meetings.
The opioid task force’s next meeting will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 17, at Caribou Superior Court.
If the grant program moves forward, the task force would use that meeting to review letters of intent and decide which organizations they will invite to submit full applications, Pelletier said.
